Burner for liquid hydrocarbons



United States Patent BURNER FOR LIQUID HYDROCARBONS Arie Harm Edens, Eindhoven, and Gomarus Maria Adrianus Cornelis Geeven, Dordrecht, Netherlands, assignors, by mesne assignments, to North American Philips Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware i Application September 25, 1952, Serial No. 311,514 Claims priority, application Netherlands October 6, 1951 1 Claim. Cl. 158-53) The present invention relates to a vaporizing burner for liquid hydrocarbons.

A suggested type of burner is one in which the liquid hydrocarbons are introduced from above into the burner, which is heatedon the outside, and the preheated air is introduced against the flow of the hydrocarbons from below into the burner. It appeared that with such a burner an air supply of about to of the quantity of air required for complete combustion could suffice in order to avoid unburnt oil residuals, when the hydrocarbons are gasified. This known burner, however, has a limitation in that it is comparatively costly due to the complicated construction and in that the quantity of air required for gasifying is comparatively great. Moreover, this air must be preheated in order to ensure satisfactory operation of the burner.

The aforesaid limitations are obviated with the vaporizing burner according to the invention. According to the invention, the vaporizing burner comprises an atomizer to which the fuel is supplied and which atomizes the fuel with the aid of air of low pressure. The fuel particles thus obtained have a size of less than 100 provision being made of a body, the outer side of which isat least in part heated by the flame and, if necessary, by the combustion gases from the burner. The fuel partciles are introduced into the body, in which they are gasified without additional supply of air, the gas thus produced being supplied to a burner. In contradistinction to the known burner cold air is used in this case for the atomization and gasifying, this air being introduced into the vaporizing burner proper on the same side as the fuel. Thus the manufacture of the burner is sirnplfied and the construction obtained is compact.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the quantity of air used for atomizing the fuel is less than 2% of the total quantity of air required for complete combustion. Consequently, the quantity of air required for vaporization need not be heated and, moreover, it is only a fraction of the quantity of air required for gasifying with the known construction.

In another embodiment of the invention, the burner comprises a member having an aperture from which the fuel emerges in the form of a jet and a body having an aperture, which is spaced apart by a certain distance from and is coaxial to the outlet port of the said member, while between these two apertures air under low pressure is supplied to the fuel, this air having a higher speed than the fuel, the second aperture opening in the gasifying body. With this embodiment, the jet of fuel is first grooved at the periphery by the air flowing with higher speed through the aperture than the fuel, after which the jet is decomposed into particles of less than 100 then these particles enter the gasifying body and are gasified.

In another embodiment of the invention, the side of the second aperture, from which the fuel emerges, is preferably provided with a device which can supply a small quantity of air to the fuel at right angles to the direction of movement of the fuel. Any deposits which might concentrate around this second aperture are thus oxidized, so that no obturation of this aperture can occur.

Finally, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the burner is constructed in the form of a whirl chamber burner device comprising more than one whirl chamber, which are arranged concentrically around the gasifying body. Thus, the known advantages of the whirl chamber burners, for example, satisfactory controllability, little noise, slight excess of air for complete combustion and no possibility of backfire due to the separate supply of fuel and air, are combined in suitable manner with the advantages of a vaporizing burner according to the invention, so that a simple and compact unit having satisfactory properties is obtained.

In order that the invention may be readilycarried into effect, it will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of an embodiment of a vaporizing burner of the present invention comprising a burner;

Fig. 2 a sectional view of the vaporizing burner of Fig.

I 1, taken on the line IIII; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, on an exaggerated scale, of another embodiment of part of a vaporizing burner.

. Referring to the figures, I designates a gasifying body or retort chamber. The gasifying body 1 is secured to a wall 2, which surrounds a combustion chamber 3. The gasifying body 1 is covered at the top by a body-or closure 4, which has a small central aperture 5. The body 4 has, moreover, a larger aperture 6, which communicates with ducts 7 in said body. The body or closure 4 and a cover & form an atomizer. The atomizer has an opening 9 communicating with the interior thereof. A tubular member 10 is partially mounted within said atomizer and has a small aperture 11 adjacent to but spaced from the cover 8 and aligned with the small central aperture 5. Between the body 4 and the gasifying body I provision is made of a number of whirl chambers 12, which are arranged concentrically around the gasifying body 1 and which communicate through apertures 13 with the combustion space 3. The whirl chambers are provided in known manner with tangential slits 14 and are surrounded by a member 15, which has a few small apertures 16, which are eccentric to the center of the whirl chambers. The entire vaporizing burner is surrounded by a jacket 17.

Fig. 3 shows part of the body 4 with the aperture 5 on an exaggerated scale. The body 4 comprises a few apertures 18 which open in the space inside the member 8. On the side of the gasifying body, provision is, moreover, made of a plate-shaped member 19, which is provided with a circular flanged part 20. The part 20 is located exactly below the apertures 18. The central part of the member 19 does not engage the body 4; there is a narrow gap 21 between the two bodies. The member 19 has, moreover, an aperture 22, which is located below the aperture 5 and concentric thereto. The edge of the member 19 beyond the part 20 is secured to the body 4 by means of screws or in a manner corresponding thereto.

The device described operates as follows. Into the tubular member 10 is introduced fuel, for example, oil, diesel oil or similar distillates, i. e. a heavier, liquid hydrocarbon. This fuel is subject to a pressure such that it can pass through the aperture 11. Into the chamber formed by the cylinder 8 is introduced cold air under low pressure, which is to be understood to mean a pressure of about cms. of water or less, through the aperture 9. This air must have a higher speed in the aperture 5 than the fuel, which emerges from the aperture 11. The air carries along the fuel and in the aperture 5 the fuel jet is broken up, so that fine fuel drops find their way into the gasifying body 1. In this space the drops are vaporized and the vapor is cracked, so that carbon is set free. This carbon, however, is oxidized immediately to CO by the available air. Due to the large contact surface of the fuel islands, which are formed from the small fuel drops and due to the turbulence occurring, the required quantity of air may be small. It need be only about 2% at the most of the total quantity of combustion air re quired. It is found in practice that in this case the oxidizing is complete, so that the walls of the gasifying body are kept quite clean.

The gas produced flows through the small apertures 16 into the Whirl chambers 12, which surround the gasifying body 1. Preheated combustion air is introduced through the aperture 23 into the space between the jacket 17 and the wall of the combustion chamber 2 and this air enters the whirl chambers via the aperture 6, the ducts 7 and the tangential ducts 14; in these chambers the mixture of gas and air is burnt.

A small deposit of carbon may form on the inner side of the member 4 around the aperture 5. However, if use is made of the member 19, air flows through the apertures 18, through the narrow gap 21, past the inner Wall of the member 4 and past the aperture 5. The very small quantity of air escaping through the slit 21 is found .to be suflicient to avoid or reduce any deposit around the aperture 5.

While the invention has been described by means of specific examples and in specific embodiments, we do not wish to be limited thereto for obvious modifications will occur to those skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What We claim is:

A vaporizing burner for liquid hydrocarbons comprising an atomizer to which fuel and air is supplied, a retort chamber, a fuel supply member in said atomizer provided with an opening through which said fuel in the form of a jet passes, said atomizer being provided with extensions which constitute a cover for said retort chamber, said cover having a fuel atomizing aperture therein aligned with said opening, means for introducing said fuel through said aperture to said retort chamber, means for introducing atomized air under low pressure through said aperture to said retort chamber, said atomized fuel in said retort chamber having particles each of which is less than 100 a in size, a combustion chamber, conduit means for introducing pre-heated combustion air into said combustion chamber, and means for separately conducting said atomized fuel to said combustion chamber Where said fuel is burned, said quantity of air under low pressure being used for atomization being less than 2% of the total quantity of air required for complete combustion, said air under low pressure adjacent said aperture having a higher velocity than said fuel, a plurality of holes in the cover of said retort chamber and radially spaced about said fuel atomizing aperture, a member securedto said retort chamber having an outlet opening axially aligned with said fuel atomizing aperture and spaced from the side of the atomizing aperture of said cover from which said fuel emerges whereby a relatively small quantity of air passing through said holes may be supplied to said fuel at substantially right angles to the direction of movement of ,said atomized fuel, said member being imperforate except for said outlet opening and having its periphery sealingly joined to the undersurface of said cover for the retort chamber.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 427,946 Adams .Mayi13, 189.0 45 1,7184 .Upson :et :al. May 5., .1891 662,319 Smith Nov. 2.0, 19.00 880,313 Lang Feb. 25, 1908 1,618,392 Stroud Feb. 22, 1927 1,658,582 Waterman ..Feb. 7, 1928 1,934,837 Zulver ..e Nov. 14, 1933 2,398,654 Lubbock et al. Apr. '16, 1 946 FOREIGN PATENTS 577,032 France 1,744,111 France Jan. 21, 

